The present invention relates to a tool for clamping and aligning a vehicle fender or a similar object against a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tool and method for aligning a vehicle body component, such as a door, engine hood, trunk lid, or roof against a vehicle.
In the assembly of an automotive vehicle, body components are often difficult to correctly attach to the vehicle. The reason for such difficulty is generally founded in the fact that automobile components such as fenders, trunk lids, engine hoods, and roofs tend to be bulky and difficult to attach. In part due to their bulk, these components are generally difficult to align on the vehicle in that their sheer size often leads to their flexing during the assembly operation. The result of such flexing unfortunately results in a poorly fitted fender.
During the early days of automobile manufacture when vehicle components such as fenders were more akin to mud flaps than integrated body components, assembly of such vehicles was less demanding in terms of accuracy than today. For example, the fender fitted to vehicles from the 1920s was mated to the vehicle running board and splash apron along a single joint. Accuracy of alignment was therefore relatively easy to achieve and, in any event, was not a critical feature of these early vehicles because a bead of cord wrapped in a water-resistant material was typically fitted between adjoining members of the automobile body. While eliminating squeaks, this feature also made xe2x80x9ca good fitxe2x80x9d fairly easy to achieve.
During the 1940s and 1950s when automobile components such as fenders, engine hoods, and trunk lids became more integrated with the vehicle body, a great number and variety of metal-to-metal for components-to-components joint lines were formed. The need for accurate and precise attachment became ever-more apparent.
During the 1980s when considerably more attention was paid to xe2x80x9cfit and finishxe2x80x9d than in prior decades of automobile manufacturer, the consistence and correct width of lines formed by joined body components of vehicles became more critical. No longer was xe2x80x9cclosexe2x80x9d good enough. Examples of such increased demands for accuracy are perhaps best characterized in automobile television commercials which focused on such accuracy by showing a marble or a steel ball rolling along the joint created by adjacent body panels. That the ball could smoothly and evenly while tracing the joints in its course of motion was supposedly a compliment to the exactness and precision of the design and construction of the vehicle.
Presently, the assembly of body components onto the vehicle frame is an arduous and demanding task that is largely done by highly skilled artisans. For example, once a single body component, such as a fender, is attached to the vehicle frame, an adjacent component, such as a door, is thereafter fitted. The second component is aligned against the vehicle frame by hand by a xe2x80x9cfitterxe2x80x9d. The xe2x80x9cfitterxe2x80x9d has the responsibility of generally placing the component against the vehicle frame as the initial step. Thereafter, a second worker, known as a xe2x80x9cspotterxe2x80x9d, objectively observes then verifies the correctness and accuracy of the alignment. Once the xe2x80x9cspotterxe2x80x9d makes his verification, the xe2x80x9cfitterxe2x80x9d secures the component to the automobile frame using known fastening methods.
While generally providing some level of accuracy, known methods of attaching methods fail in large part due to variations in the xe2x80x9cprincipal locating pointsxe2x80x9d. Theoretically, if these points were perfectly situated every time, the known method of attaching a vehicle component would prove satisfactory. However, in reality, relatively significant variations exist in the stamping of each component. For example, the proper fit of the engine hood to the vehicle is attributed to a variety of categories, including hood-to-hood, hinge-to-hinge, and hinge-to-hood attachment points, the positioning of reinforcements that actually form the mounting surface, and the placement positions of the vehicle fender. Accordingly, because of such variations in xe2x80x9cprincipal locating pointsxe2x80x9d, present methods of attaching components during the production of an automotive vehicle are inadequate.
In addition, beyond unsatisfactory attachment results, the present method of employing two workers to install each component is very labor intensive and subject to cost and reliability problems commonly associated with such assembly techniques.
Accordingly, a method and apparatus for aligning a vehicle component with respect to an adjacent vehicle component already attached to a frame remains wanting.
Accordingly, it is the general object of the present invention to overcome the difficulties and disadvantages associated with previous alignment and assembly techniques.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for aligning a component with respect to an adjacent component which relies on a minimum of human labor.
It is an additional object of such a method and apparatus which incorporates a component-holding assembly and a frame for holding the assembly for supporting the assembly which may be moved in any one of a variety of positions around a vehicle.
A further object of the present invention is to incorporate a vacuum system for holding the component against a supporting assembly.
Yet an additional object of the present invention is to provide such a method and apparatus which incorporates an axially movable suction cup within a housing to provide adherence of the components.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide such a method and apparatus which incorporates a housing for the movable suction cup having a contoured face is capable of substantially mating with the contour of the body of the component being fitted.
Yet an additional object of the present invention is to provide such a method and apparatus which incorporates a spacing wedge fitted to the frame for consistently and accurately spacing adjacent components.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide such a method and apparatus which incorporates a variety of body-aligning blocks which may be selectively fitted to the frame.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a method and apparatus which is selectively operated by air logic sequencing.
Still yet an additional object of the present invention is to provide such a method and apparatus which is applicable in the assembly of any product which comprises two or more components which must be accurately aligned for adjacent positioning.
Other advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.